Volt Electric Car Gets Official Fuel Economy Rating

The Environmental Protection Agency just approved this fuel-economy label for the Chevrolet Volt electric-gasoline hybrid.

I wrote earlier today that the Volt was still waiting for an official fuel economy rating from the Environmental Protection Agency. Well, the wait is over. The EPA just released the rating, which pegs the hybrid Volt at 93 mpg when running on electric power only, and 37 mpg while running on the power of its gasoline engine, which acts mainly as a generator.

Even though electric cars generate no tailpipe emissions, they still use energy so the EPA determines the MPG equivalent, or MPGe rating, by measuring electricity use and converting it based on the energy content in a gallon of gasoline.

The MPGe rating helps consumers compare the efficiency of the Volt and other electric cars with other vehicles including traditional gasoline-powered cars and more-traditional hybrids. The Volt’s new label also gives its electric-only range as 35 miles, with a total range of 379 miles. The EPA estimates the Volt’s equivalent of an annual fuel cost will be $601 on average if it is driven only on electric power, and $1302 if run on gasoline only.

The EPA had already given the Volt’s main rival, the Nissan Leaf, a 99-mpg rating. The Leaf runs on electric power only and has no gasoline generator on board. The mix of electricity from the grid and gasoline that the Volt uses will vary depending on how far owners drive and how often they charge the battery.

Comments (4 of 4)

Roger, you wouldn't expect a Federal subsidy for a car built by workers who are not members of the UAW, whereas GM workers are UAW members.

5:06 pm November 25, 2010

James Richard Tyrer, Arizona wrote :

IIUC, the Volt is a plug in serial hybrid. There is no connection between the internal combustion engine [ICE] and the wheels (like a Diesel electric locomotive except that they do not have a battery).

The problem is that the Volt was not optimized as a plug in serial hybrid. They wanted to have it able to run a reasonable distance only on the battery. The result is that the battery is larger and the motor/generator set is larger. This reduced the electric only mileage due to the increased weight and the larger ICE.

A better design would be to have a smaller motor/generator set and a smaller battery with the computer programed to start the ICE when the battery dropped to half charge and turn off when the battery reached a full charge (or close to full charge so that regenerative breaking could still charge the battery).

As it is, the Volt is basically a produced designed to advertise rather than to use and I doubt that people will purchase it when they see the low mileage it gets as a serial hybrid.

12:56 pm November 25, 2010

RogerB34 wrote :

The Volt engine isn't just an electric generator. If it were, Volt would be a serial hybrid and that is the way GM promoted it up to release for public test drives.
Volt is a parallel drive hybrid like Prius. The engine directly powers a mechanical drive train similar to Prius and most other hybrids.
Prius isn't on Federal subsidy, Volt is taxpayer subsidized. Why?

9:12 pm November 24, 2010

Harlan wrote :

The Volt is interesting because the engine is just an electric generator. When it come to vehicles, power sells better than fuel economy. If the emphasis is switched from efficiency to power, then Volt like cars will sell. Instead of using the engine to make the battery last long, use the battery to supplement the engine's power. The battery should kick in when the driver wants more power than the engine can deliver. Put a 250 horse power electric motor in the car, a batter than can discharge fast, then advertise it as a muscle car. It will sell.